Trump Says Media Partly Responsible for Package Bombs

White House on suspicious packages: Media has role to play | Fox News [2018-10-25]

After package bombs were discovered to have been mailed to at least 12 high-profile Democrats, Donald Trump wasted no time in declaring that the media and its “fake news” – not his divisive rhetoric – were at least partly responsible.

The package bombs were all uncovered within a span of 48 hours, and all of the intended recipients are outspoken critics of Donald Trump. The list included former President Barack Obama, Former Vice President Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary Clinton, billionaire donor George Soros, congresswomen Maxine Waters, Former CIA Director John Brennan (via CNN), Former Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator Kamala Harris, Senator Cory Booker, Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Actor Robert De Niro, and billionaire Tom Steyer. The devices were mailed using former Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ address as the return address. Included with the package bomb mailed to CNN was an envelope containing a white powder substance.

Regarding the package bomb mailings, Trump tweeted on October 25, “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”

In response to Trump’s statement, CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker, stated, “There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media. The President, and especially the White House Press Secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that.”

Some Trump supporters continue to find it impossible to believe that their president’s continual inflammatory rhetoric and actions could be a factor in the current level of animosity and division among Americans. In fact, they appear to find more feasible the idea that maybe the package bombs were part of an elaborate Democrat “false flag” scheme to gain support in the upcoming midterm elections.

The FBI has, however, linked Trump supporter Cesar Altieri Sayoc to the creation and mailing of the package bombs. A latent fingerprint on one of the packages, and DNA evidence from at least two of them point to Sayoc as a suspect.

It’s true that one Trump supporter’s possible attempts to do harm to prominent Democrats with package bombs does not make Donald Trump directly responsible. But Trump’s constant stirring of the malignant anti-Democrat pot does place some of the responsibility on him, for encouraging behavior toward his critics that is divisive at best, and potentially lethal at worst.

Donald Trump’s attempts to drop part of the blame for the package bombs at the feet of the Democrats – and his supporters’ willingness to go along with that assessment – demonstrate a notion that willful blindness and continual gaslighting are what will Make America Great Again.